In 'Idle Grounds,' a pack of children searches the woods for their missing cousin

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

When a young child goes missing at a family gathering, a pack of cousins sets out into the woods to find her. Idle Grounds follows this group of children as they search their late grandmother's property and wonder whether something sinister might lurk there. Krystelle Bamford says her new novel dips into the New England Gothic genre, inspired by the darkness that bubbles underneath the daylight of the adult world. In today's episode, Bamford speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about the author's own New England upbringing, the magic and mystery of childhood, and the potential dangers of nostalgia.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. I'm pretty familiar with the term
0:07.1	Southern Gothic, whether it's the work of Flandry O'Connor or the first season of that TV
0:12.5	show True Detective. I understand the tropes and contours of the genre. Something I'm
0:17.6	less familiar with is New England Gothic. And I'm not alone.
0:21.2	Author Christel Bamford wrote the new novel,
0:23.8	Idol Grounds, and it wasn't until later when she realized,
0:27.3	huh, this book I'm writing fits into that New England Gothic category.
0:32.3	It's a coming-of-age novel about these kids in the woods
0:35.0	who encounter some spooky stuff that forces them to
0:38.6	face adulthood. Bamford talks to NPR's Aisha Roscoe about what makes New England so eerie
0:44.1	after the break. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:50.9	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, sources
0:56.7	and methods.
0:57.5	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand
1:02.0	why distant events matter here at home.
1:04.8	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:10.4	Do you remember as a kid, those summer days just running around wild with other kids while the adults were off having adult conversations?
1:21.3	In Christel Bamford's new novel, Idol Grounds, a family has gathered for a summer birthday, and the young cousins
1:29.5	are soon to be set loose. Here she is reading from the first pages of her book.
1:35.1	We were all together, which everyone seemed to dread and anticipate in equal measure.
1:41.5	Cousins stuck their legs out from car doors, always the children first, parents girding
1:47.3	their loins behind the steering wheels. It's 11 now, we're out of here by three, our parents said,
	...

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